ECS Kindergarten Policies Database - More than half the states and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation to administer kindergarten entrance assessments as policymakers continue their emphasis on school readiness. This 50-state database covers the waterfront of kindergarten policies, reporting on indicators ranging from compulsory school age to standards to student/teacher ratios. (Emily Workman, Micah Wixom, Education Commission of the States, March 2014)...

Inequalities at the Starting Line: State Kindergarten Policies PDF - The Education Commission of the States (ECS) reviewed policies across all 50 states—policies that ECS believes are significant markers in the quality of a state's kindergarten program. The kindergarten report's findings highlight the significant diversity that exists in state kindergarten policies across and within states. The results reveal a system of providing the next generation with high-quality, full-day, everyday kindergarten that is highly unequal across the states. The goal of the report is to illustrate the implications of the presence of such diverse kindergarten policies, to raise questions about the implications of that diversity, and to encourage policymakers to consider the impact their state's policies have on children's future educational success. (Emily Workman, ECS, March 2013)...

Kindergarten Policy Characteristics PDF - This report presents 50-state data on four kindergarten policy areas. Policy areas addressed are if districts are required to offer a kindergarten program and if so, is it full-day or half- day, if students are required to attend kindergarten, at what age a student can enter kindergarten, and at what age a student is required to attend school. The author highlights the significant variations found in kindergarten policies across states. (Emily Workman, ECS, March 2013)...

Kindergarten Entrance Ages: A 35 Year Trend Analysis MS Word PDF - There has been a trend in the states over the last 35 years to establish a cutoff date earlier in the year for children entering kindergarten. This ECS StateNote examines the trend, providing changes for each state since 1975. (Education Commission of the States, May 2011)...

Transitional Kindergarten in California: Early Outreach, Enrollment, and Parent Perspectives - In 2010, California's SB 1381 established a new grade level for students who turned five between September 2 and December 2 called transitional kindergarten (TK). The first year of a two-year kindergarten experience, TK offers children learning as well as social and emotional development; most parents were happy. There was an economic advantage as well: full-day programs provided more hours of schooling for children, helpful for working parents. (Michele Cadigan, Heather Quick and Karen Manship, American Institutes for Research, March 2015)...

Transitional Kindergarten in California: Comparing Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten Classrooms - This is the second research brief in a series highlighting findings from a study focusing on characteristics of Transitional Kindergarten (TK) classrooms for students who turned five between September 2 and December 2. Based on surveys of TK and kindergarten teachers included in this study, it appears that TK teachers are adopting instructional practices that are more developmentally appropriate for the younger students enrolled in the program, as intended by state law. (Diana Mercado-Garcia, et al., AIR, October 2014)...

Making the Hours Count: Exposing Disparities in Early Education by Retiring Half-Day vs. Full-Day Labels - Nobody knows how many hours children in pre-K and kindergarten spend in school because of widely varying definitions of full-day and half-day. One full-day program could be twice as long as another, depending on how many hours in the day and days in the week fall under a district or state definition. Nobody knows what time "dosage" is best for children because half-day and full-day definitions thwart research. The author recommends requiring districts and states to report number of hours per week and year. (Alexander Holt, New America Education, August 2014) ...

Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success - Report urges state educators and education policymakers to refocus literacy efforts on improving language development skills, starting with toddlers, with the aim of closing the achievement gaps between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Almost half of the state's 3rd graders are not proficient readers. (Nonie Lesaux, Strategies for Children, June 2010)...